Brunson scores 38 points as Knicks stay alive

The Knicks denied the Heat’s first attempt to become just the second No. 8 seed to reach the conference finals and sent the series back to Miami for Game 6 on Friday night.

RJ Barrett added 26 points and Julius Randle had 24 for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who stayed alive in hopes of reaching the conference finals for the first time since 2000. They did that by getting by the Heat in seven games in the second round, a possibility that still exists.

The Knicks built a 19-point lead in the third quarter, then hung on when the Heat finally got their 3-pointers to start falling and cut it to two with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.

Jimmy Butler had 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Heat, getting held below 25 points for the first time in this postseason. Bam Adebayo added 18 points and Duncan Robinson had 17.

The 1999 Knicks, for now, remain the only No. 8 to get to a conference finals in the current playoff format that began in 1984. They got all the way to the NBA Finals after upsetting the top-seeded Heat in the first round.

The Heat used a pair of huge quarter-opening runs — 18-2 to begin the second and 23-7 in the third — to build a 73-54 lead midway through the third quarter. The Heat got it all the way down to 103-101 before Isaiah Hartenstein — in the game because the Heat were intentionally fouling starting center Mitchell Robinson — slammed home a follow dunk to start New York’s finishing kick.

Quentin Grimes also went all 48 minutes for the Knicks, finishing with eight points.

The Heat dominated Game 3 and outworked the Knicks in the fourth quarter to hold on and take Game 4, positioning themselves to wrap up a series in five games for the second time in this postseason. They began it by knocking off Milwaukee, which had the best record in the league.

But they missed 21 of their first 25 3-pointers and were still down 13 with 9 1/2 minutes before Robinson and Lowry each made a pair in a 12-3 burst that trimmed it to 95-91 with more than half the final period remaining.

Butler had one of his typical do-everything stretches with a basket, a blocked shot and a free throw to cut it to 103-10, but the Heat couldn’t come all the way back like they did in the deciding game against the Bucks, when they were down by 16 points.

They led 24-14 after one, but Butler began the second quarter on the bench and the Knicks capitalized. They pushed the pace to get rare easy shots and Barrett made two 3-pointers in an 18-2 spurt that gave them a 32-26 lead.

Randle’s 3-pointer made it 50-47 at the half. Kevin Love got the first basket of the third, but Barrett and Brunson answered with consecutive 3-pointers to ignite the Knicks’ next spurt. The lead was eight before an 11-0 surge, featuring back-to-back 3-pointers by Brunson and Randle, pushed it to 73-54 midway through the period.

Robinson finished 4 of 8 at the line, ending with eight points and 11 rebounds.

WARRIORS 121, LAKERS 106: Stephen Curry had 27 points and eight assists, Andrew Wiggins added 25 points, seven rebounds and five assist, and defending champion Golden State staved off elimination by beating Los Angeles in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.

LeBron James had 25 points and nine rebounds for Los Angeles. Anthony Davis added 23 points and nine rebounds but went to the locker room late after appearing to take a hit in the head from Kevon Looney.

Austin Reaves made a 3-pointer with 5:25 to play that cut the Warriors’ lead to single digits at 104-95 only for Curry to answer with five straight points, then he hit another big shot after D’Angelo Russell connected from deep.

Draymond Green contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds as Golden State played tough defense that led to better chances on the offensive end — just as coach Steve Kerr has challenged his team to to.

Now, it’s back to LA for Game 6 on Friday night with the Lakers 5-0 at home this postseason, having won eight consecutive games on their own floor since losing to the Bulls on March 26.

Golden State is trying rally from a 3-1 series deficit for only the second time in franchise history and will try to win one more to bring Game 7 back to Chase Center on Sunday. The Warriors rallied from 3-1 down in the 2016 Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City.

Curry beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer over Lonnie Walker IV as the Warriors took a 70-59 lead. The 70 first-half points were the most Golden State in the playoffs since scoring 72 in a Game 6 first-round win over the Clippers in 2019. The last team to score 70 or more in a first half of a playoff game versus the Lakers was Phoenix with 71 in Game 4 of the 2000 second round.

Green and Wiggins took turns on James and Golden State tried to take Davis out of rhythm after he had 23 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two assists in Game 4.

Curry shot 12 for 24 but just 3 of 11 from long range coming off his third career playoff triple-double in a 104-101 Game 4 loss.